More about Moderna’s Prophylactic Vaccines Modality

Moderna scientists designed the prophylactic vaccines modality to prevent infectious diseases. More than 1,000 participants have been enrolled in Moderna’s infectious disease vaccine clinical studies under health authorities in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Based on clinical experience across six Phase 1 studies, the Company has designated prophylactic vaccines a core modality and intends to accelerate development of its infectious disease vaccine candidates.

The potential advantages of an mRNA approach to prophylactic vaccines include the ability to mimic natural infection to stimulate a more potent immune response, combining multiple mRNAs into a single vaccine, rapid discovery to respond to emerging pandemic threats and manufacturing agility derived from the platform nature of mRNA vaccine design and production. Moderna has built a fully integrated manufacturing plant in Norwood, MA which enables the promise of the technology platform.

Moderna currently has nine development candidates in its prophylactic vaccines modality, including:

Vaccines against serious respiratory infections

• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for older adults (mRNA-1777 and mRNA-1172/V172 with Merck)
• RSV vaccine for young children (mRNA-1345)
• Human metapneumovirus and parainfluenza virus type 3 (hMPV/PIV3) vaccine (mRNA-1653)
• Novel coronavirus vaccine (mRNA-1273)
• Influenza H7N9 (mRNA-1851)

Vaccines against serious infections transmitted from mother to baby

• Cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine (mRNA-1647)
• Zika vaccine (mRNA-1893) with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)

Vaccines against common viral infections

• Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) vaccine (mRNA-1189)

To date, Moderna has demonstrated positive Phase 1 data readouts for six prophylactic vaccines (H10N8, H7N9, RSV, chikungunya virus, hMPV/PIV3 and CMV). Moderna’s CMV vaccine is currently in a Phase 2 dose-selection study. Moderna’s investigational Zika vaccine (mRNA-1893), currently in a Phase 1 study, was granted FDA Fast Track designation. (Source: Moderna Website)